Gerry Robinson

Gerry Robinson is a former Chairman of the Granada Group (1996-2001) who was given the job of Head of the Arts Council by Tony Blair in 1998, a position he held until 2004. He gave more than £5000 to the Labour Party in 1997 and 1998, and £20,000 in May 2001.

Career

At Granada Robinson was paid £1,069,000 in 1999 and also made £5,263,438 from share options. He was paid £981,000 in 1998 (and £857,000 in 1997) at a time when Granada Television workers were striking over a 3% pay offer. In 1997 he was paid £375,000 for shortening his contract from 3 to 2 years. Shortly after the European Working Time Directive came into force, all 40,000 workers in the Group's Forte Hotels received letters offering them the "opportunity" to opt out of the 48-hour maximum working week.

When the Hospitality division of Granada merges with Compass Catering and splits from the rest of the Group in 2001, he is expected to cash in share options worth £6 million. Although he will step down from the board he will work as a consultant until 2003 on his £1 million salary.